‘Black Panther’ Is the Third Movie Ever To Cross $700 Million at the U.S. Box Office

Black Panther opened six months ago, and it continues to break records and make history. Not only is the Marvel film the biggest superhero movie ever, but it just added another impressive accolade to its mantle: it’s now the third movie of all time to make $700 million at the domestic box office.

As of this past weekend, T’Challa’s solo MCU movie crossed the $700 million threshold, something only two films have managed to do in the past: Star Wars: The Force Awakens at$936.7 million and Avatar at $760.5 million (both not adjusted for inflation). While most films drop put of theaters after three or four months, Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther has been the rare title to stick around a while longer, helping it gobble up a few extra bucks.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Marvel recently bumped up the number of theaters Black Panther is playing in, which gave it a nice boost. The film went from playing in 28 locations to 154 for one weekend in the middle of July, dropping back down to 15 at the end of the month. But this past weekend saw a few extra theaters added for a total 25 locations. That gave the film a +1,300% increase, earning it $35 million this past weekend alone, including $7,000 this past Sunday that helped push the film just slightly past the $700 million mark.

The Marvel movie is still at the top of the 2018 U.S. box office, ahead of Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2 – a great year for Disney/Marvel, huh? Earlier this year it surpassed Titanic as the third highest grosser ever. The film also made more money than Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avengercombined! And internationally it continues to cobble up cash with a total global gross of $1.3 billion, making it one of four 2018 releases to pass the $1 billion mark this year – others include Infinity War, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Incredibles 2. Wakanda forever, baby.